Month: June 2010

In other news, Sharon and I are heading to Saltspring Island to celebrate her birthday, which falls on Monday. We’re not back until Tuesday and I’m expecting an amazing weekend of sun and a slow island pace.

So what’s been happening the last couple of weeks? Well… last weekend was  a whirlwind of action! There were gypsy bands at the Anza Club and $3.50 beers. First thing Sunday morning I woke up at Dave’s place and within 15 minutes we were on the road to Squamish where we enjoyed some fine grilled cheese sandwiches courtesy of Grilled Fromage, the “cheesiest place on earth.” It’s a nice hipster joint with tasty food and cheesy album covers (Tom Jones and Slim Whitman were a couple of my favorites) decorating the place. There are a few prominently-placed pictures of David Hasselhoff too.

After loading up on grilled cheese, we took Dave’s truck up into a forestry road past Squamish and got to chill out in the outdoors for a bit. Then it was our friend Kris’s BBQ for his birthday and finally into bed after a great weekend.

Next weekend is Kimli’s birthday and the “no pants” party that she has planned. I will be pressing my sexiest manties for the occasion.

I remember an interview with Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore where he talked about putting together a list of the 100 best band’s nobody’s ever heard of. I can’t seem to track down the article, sadly, but that quote has always stuck with me. In my time living in Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver I’ve discovered that every city has a stack of talented bands that never get heard of outside of a few friends and local music enthusiasts. I have a small stack of albums that few people have listened to, but I think have some of the greatest songs ever recorded on them.

One of my more recent finds was a band called Ask Alice. They were active in California a couple of years ago, put out an independently-financed album, and have since disappeared. I still throw that album on so I can hear 3 of the hardest charging punk songs I’ve been exposed to. Every time I listen I’m seized with the urge to put an ad on Craigslist, “drummer wanting to start loud angry punk band that makes people wet their pants in fear and awe whenever we play.”

Sadly, Ask Alice’s myspace page has disappeared and I don’t see twitter updates from them anymore. Hopefully they put together a new punk band that’s as good as the old one.